Automatic barrel cleaning machine



K. E. DRECHSLER AUTOMATIC BARREL CLEANING' MACHINE Oct; '21, 1941.

2 Sheets-Sheet l -Fi1ed June 13, 1935 1 A M QE 6! Enventor mzziprwz Oct. 21, 1941.

K. E. DRECHSLER AUTOMATIC BARREL CLEANING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 13, 1935 I I l L \NVZNTOR KRRLENXSYWGHSLER ATTORNEY;

Patented Oct. 21, 1941 Nilhfi STATES iiisftiilhli QFFIQE 7 AUTGMATIC BARREL CLEANING MACHINE Karl Ernst Breclislcr, Leipzig, Germany (Cl. Mia-6) 3 3laims.

This invention relates to an automatic barrel cleaning and pitching machine.

In the best known automatic machines of this class a number of operating stations are provided between two bearing members about which a conveyor is circularly or rectangularly moved by means of cranks or elbow levers for the purpose of receiving the barrels to be treated outside the front bearing and progressively feeding them to the various stations. These stations are usually arranged one behind th other in such a way that the barrel picked up from a prismatic support by the conveyor is first fed to a station where it is laterally adjusted, i. e., with its transverse axis symmetrically relative to th machine, and simultaneously rolled until the spike of a bow or arm engages th bunghole and holds the barrel in position with the hole on top. The spike may be constructed as a mouthpiece and the arm as water supplying means to throw water into the barrel at this first station, or the water maybe thrown in at the next station to which the barrel is conveyed with its bunghole on top to be engaged there by an arm with a mouthpiece. At the first combination station described or at one of the two separate stations the circumference as well as the head and bottom of the barrel are, moreover, soaked by being exposed to water showers. After water has been thrown in through the bunghole and the outer surface of the barrel has been washed, the conveyor feeds the barrel to a station where it is turned by rotating carrier rolls, externally washed again by showers and, simultaneously, subjected to mechanical brushing. Durin this turning motion the inside of the barrel is partly freed from impurities by the water previously thrown in.

Having passed the adjusting and brushing station, the barrel is conveyed to a station where it is turned down to bring its hole in position for being placed on spraying nozzles which are arranged at the following stations and to which it is conveyed for thorough cleaning of its inner walls.

In these machines, one of the two bearing members usually constructed as a shaft serves also for driving the control members by means of which the arms or bows for engaging the bunghole, the means for internal spraying, raising and lowering the brushes and opening and closing the valves are rhythmically moved.

The cleaning effected by the known machines is, however, insufficient when barrels are to be handled which have been away from their filling riod and are therefore very dirty. Such barrels, furthermore, often contain foreign bodies which can be removed only if the bunghole is held on the machine from below, i. 9., after the barrel has already passed a number of working stations.

It has been the general practice hitherto to overcome these difiiculties by spraying the barrels externally with water prior to feeding them to the machine and placing them by hand with the bunghole on an upwardly pointing spraying nozzle to soak them internally and to remove the worst dirt, the nozzle being arranged in front of the machine in such a way that the internally sprayed barrel is lifted by the conveyor and fed to the machine; This arrangement, however, is cumbersome and unreliable, since the high output of the machine and the speed required in manually placing the barrel on the spraying nozzle permit only superfiicial cleaning, or none at all, as the conveyor'lifts off the barrel immediately after it has been put on.

According to the invention, this preparatory soaking of the inside and outside of the barrel, like all other operations required, is automatically carried out by the machine itself to insure thorough cleaning, and the invention attains its object by providing two additional working stations in front of the brurhing station, viz. an adjusting station where the barrel is adjusted symmetrically relative to the longitudinal axis of the machine and rolled to bring down the bunghole and a preparatory soaking station with spraying nozzle. These two additional stations are followed by the usual working stations of the machine.

One form of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a side view of the front part of a barrel cleaning machine embodying the invention; Fig. 2,.a front view of the barrel adjusting device; Fig. 3, a front view of the external cleaning device; Fig. .4, a side View on a larger scale of a station where the inside of the barrel is sprayed; and Figs. 5 to '7 are detail views of the protecting and lubricating means forthe worm gear turning the spraying nozzle. 1

Referring to the drawings, the conveyor 2 is fitted with bearings 2 for the barrels to be moved from one station to the other and is carried on both ends by the crank arms 3, each of which is secured to a shaft 5 connected with a power drive. The weight of the conveyor 2 and of the barrels temporarily supported thereby is balanced by the station; such as breweries, etc, for a longer pecounterweights 5 rotating with'the'shafts 4,"

The first working station relative to conveying direction behind the front bearing member or shaft 4 is represented by the adjusting device A which comprises the two continually rotating pairs of carryingrolls 6 for the barrel, as shown in Figures 1 and 2 and the horn-like levers I. These horn-like levers 1 are pivoted in bearings at 8, as shown in Figure 2, and are limited in one direction of their movement by the brackets 8 Weighted levers 9, as shown in Figure 1, are provided which act upon the levers 1, pivoted at 8, and serve to move the upper ends of the hornlike levers 1 towards the barrel placed between them in the manner shown in the patent to Romberg, Number 1,121,871. Immediately below the horn-like portions of levers 1, rollers 10 are supported on said levers 1, and these rollers Ill are disposed with their axes substantially vertical, in contrast to the horizontal axes of the rollers 6. The rollers H1 serve to permit rolling of the barrels while the barrels are being rolled on the rollers 6. Were the horn-like portions of the levers I extended downwardly to align with the rollers 6, such extended portions without rollers would cause a braking of the rolling of the barrels. one objective at this station is to have the barrel movableaxially so as to properly align it axially in respect to the conveyor means 2, and the other is to keep rolling the barrel until its bunghole is brought down, that is, until the barrel takes a position in which the lowermost part of the barrel presents the bunghole in down position.

In the center between both pairs of rolls 6, and substantially in the plane of movement of the horn-like members of the levers I, is a spike 6' (Fig. 2), which is pressed against the circumierence of the barrel as it rolls by means of a weighted lever similar to the lever I3 which urges nozzle l2 upwards in station B. When the bunghole of the barrel reaches its lowermost position or its down position, it is engaged by the spike 6', and the barrel is held by the spike with its bunghole down until the conveyor lifts the barrel and passes the barrel to the next station B, which is the soaking station. The circumferential portion of the barrel which is closed, presses the spike downwardly, but when the bunghole takes a position over the spike the movable spike enters the barrel through its bunghole and holds it in bunghole down position. Any contents of the barrel, such as beer rests, can readily pass out of the barrel through the bunghole when the barrel is in bunghole down position.

The soaking station B just referred to, is provided with a spray nozzle l2 having holes or slots distributed over its entire surface. The vertical nozzle [2 is rotatable about its axis. This nozzle I2 is adapted to enter the bunghole of the barrel, since the barrel is moved from the adjusting station A to the soaking station B, with its bunghole indownposition, thebarrel being conveyed from station Ato station B,by,the conveyor means 2, these means '2 releasing the barrel when the barrel arrives at thisstation B, with its bunghole down' over the nozzle .12. ,Barrel retaining means i I of concave form are provided in this station E to holdlthe barrel, while its interior is subjected to. the a'ction of thel nozzle 12, and until the conveyor' means 2 againtake hold of the barrel and move it tothe next st'ation.'j

Behind tl ie'se stations A cording to the inve'ntion', the rolling and adjusting station 0 and the brushing station I) follow in the usual manner.

and Bprovided ac- The cam I4 serving for moving the lever system leading to the brushing device D and the cam plate l5 for opening the valve for the spray water are secured to the pin it of the crank 3 by means of which they are driven by the conveyor 2. The crank 3' may be disposed elsewhere also, the essential point being that the cams l4 and I5 are driven by the conveyor 2.

The superstructure 28 composed of watercarrying pipes provided with spraying apertures within range of the brushing station D for wetting the outside of the barrels comprises also the extension 28' above the preparatory soaking station E where thus both the inside and the outside of the barrels are treated.

The worm gear [1, I8 shown in Figs. 4 to 7 serves for turning the spraying nozzle l2 must be protected against splashing and continually lubricated. For this purpose the main driving shaft I9 extending over the entire machine as well as the hollow spraying water shaft 20 are partly enclosed by the casing 21 so as to provide accessibility and protection. The casing 2! is secured to the bottom of the collecting trough 22 shown in Fig. 4 and provided in its lower portion with the oil tray 23.

The arm 24 rotating with the shaft l9 dips into the oil tray 23 and delivers part of the oil taken up to the inclined oil conductor 25 from whose groove 26 the oil drips between the worm gears I1, l8. To supply only slight amounts of oil to the gears ll, l8 and to provide for the return of the excess oil delivered by the arm 24 to the conductor 25 to the tray 23 the oil conductor 25, within range of the arm 24, has an elevation 21 where the excess oil collects prior to dripping off.

I claim:

1. In a barrel cleaning machine, adjusting means comprising, laterally swingable opposed barrel centering levers each having a barrel catching extension, the extensions of said levers diverging from each other, a roller mounted on each lever on an axis substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the lever, said roller being below said extension and forming therewith a continuous barrel guiding surface, said roller having a relatively small length in respect to the length of the extensions, and barrel supporting rollers to hold the barrel between the levers while the barrel contacts with said rollers on the levers, whereby the barrel is adjusted symmetrically relative to the longitudinal axis of the machine and rolled to bring the bunghole down. 7

2. Barrel adjusting means comprising, laterally swingable opposed barrel centering levers, means for biasing said levers to swing towards one another, each of said levers having a barrel catching extension, the extensions of said levers diverging from each other, a roller mounted on each lever on an axis substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the lever, said roller being below said extension and forming therewith a substantially continuous barrel guiding surface,

barrel supporting rollers mounted between said leverson horizontal axesto hold the barrel between the'levers while the barrel contacts with barrel cleaning machine having a feeding .en-

trance and a barrel operating station for adjust ing a barrel prior to the known exterior washing beginning with the barrel bunghole up position,

and succeeding barrel cleaning stations, conveyor means for successively moving a barrel from said first operating station to each successive station of said standard machine allowing the barrel to rest intermittently at each station, and drive members for said conveyor means for giving the same a swinging circular movement for successively moving said conveyor means above and below the barrel operative parts of said stations; of two additional stations interposed between said feeding entrance and said barrel adjusting station, the first of said additional stations including adjusting means for the barrel fed from the feeding entrance to dispose the barrel while transverse to the longitudinal axis of the machine to bunghole down position to drain any remaining beer from the barrel, an additional extension conveyor means formed as part of the aforesaid conveyor means and movable rhythmically therewith and extending therefrom longitudinally from the first adjusting station beyond the two additional stations to the feed entrance, and having a barrel receiving end to receive a barrel, to move the barrel from the feed entrance to the first additional station to enable said barrel to be drained of the contents of the barrel while the barrel is in bunghole down position, and rinsing means at the second additional station in the form of an upright spraying nozzle for entering the downwardly placed bunghole of the barrel previously drained, the extension conveyor means positioning the barrel on the nozzle to enable the nozzle to interiorly clean the barrel, whereby after the barrel has been first interiorily cleaned in bunghole-down position by said additional stations and extension conveyor means, it is further cleaned while being moved station by station by the initial conveying means to the discharge of the standard machine.

KARL ERNST DRECHSLER. 

